The Reason
by I am no angel 0217
Summary: Buffy and Faith have to get along for the sake of the SITs so they go out to the desert. In the process they learn of the reason why the First is actually after the Slayer line. R/R.
1. Reasons Revealed

Author's Note: Forgive me if this story sucks..I just came up with it. Please R/R.  
  
The Reason  
  
"I'll never trust her," Buffy whispered to Willow, who sitting next to Buffy on the back porch.  
  
"You have to, Buff," Willow said as she took a bite of Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream.  
  
"Can I have some?" Buffy whimpered as she looked longingly at Willow's bowl of ice cream. Willow took her spoon and stuck it in her best friend's mouth. "Thank you."  
  
"So, why can't you ever trust her?" Willow asked, noticing that Buffy's mouth was stuffed full of ice cream.  
  
"Yeah, why can't you trust me, B?" Faith asked as she walked out Buffy's back door.  
  
Buffy rolled her eyes. "Give me one reason why I should ever trust you, Faith."  
  
"You and me hold the key to the Slayer line, B. We have to do this to keep this world around."  
  
Buffy stood up, filled with anger, and said, "Since when do you care about the rest of the world? I thought all you cared about was yourself. Since when do you care who the Hell you hurt or protect?"  
  
Faith, not too surprised by this outburst, stood inches from Buffy's faith and replied, "Who said I didn't care?"  
  
"Pretty much you did. You're the one who chose to go evil and give into temptation. That pretty much sums up my whole thoughts on you not caring."  
  
"Deep down, I didn't stop caring."  
  
"Could've fooled me," Buffy scoffed.  
  
Willow was getting extremely sick of the arguing. "You two need to shut up."  
  
"Looks like Red's got a pair on her," Faith replied sarcastically.  
  
"I said, shut up," Willow screamed in a bone-chilling tone. A look of fear was spread across both Slayers' faces. Willow took a deep breath before continuing her speech, "Buffy, as much as you know I hate to say this, Faith and you are the keys to the Slayer line. You two do need to get along. And Faith, don't start acting like Buffy should just automatically be your best friend. You screwed up. You screwed Buffy and the rest of us. That's not an easily forgivable thing. Now, I don't know what I should tell you, but I'd say that both of you need to do some sort of Slayer-bond fest or something. Do something to get over all this crap between you two!"  
  
With that, Willow went inside, leaving Buffy and Faith on the porch. She hoped that she had done the right thing, and considering the applause the Potentials gave her as she came in she knew she had.  
  
* * *  
  
"So, how do we get over this shit?" Faith asked bluntly.  
  
"I don't know," Buffy mumbled.  
  
"Figures," Faith said rolling her eyes.  
  
"What do you mean by that?"  
  
"Well, you always think you're so much better than me. You're not. You're just a loser, B. You're a pathetic loser."  
  
Buffy controlled the urge to punch Faith, though it was difficult. "Ooh, put downs.can we say first grade?"  
  
Faith lifted her clenched fist up and was about to hit Buffy square in the eye when Xander came outside. She dropped it quickly, not wanting to look like the aggressor.  
  
"Willow was right," Xander said softly to both girls. "You two are too old to be acting this childish. Anya and she just got off the phone with Giles, and he said that the only way he knew that you two could re- bond is to do the meditation thing in the desert together. He's gonna pick you up as soon as he gets done with the insurance guys from The Magic Box."  
  
"But that would leave all the Potentials without Slayer protection," Buffy said quickly.  
  
"Yeah, they'd be screwed," Faith agreed.  
  
"Yeah, well, they'll be even more screwed if the two of you don't quit acting like this. Your relationship is causing everyone around you to get stressed out. You two need to get your pretty little butts to that desert and do that meditation thing, or else the world is gonna suffer."  
  
Buffy and Faith both sighed, knowing that their anger was draining them of the strength needed to fight the First. They looked at each other and nodded. "So, it's agreed?" Xander asked.  
  
"Yeah," they replied in harmony.  
  
Faith headed inside to grab her jacket, but Buffy held back with Xander. "Let the Potentials know that you and Kennedy are in charge."  
  
"Okay," Xander whispered. "You two be careful.and don't kill each other."  
  
"I'll try not to harm a hair on her pretty little head," Buffy grumbled as she ran inside to grab her coat.  
  
* * *  
  
Buffy and Faith began the ritual later that evening. It took less than five minutes before they saw the First Slayer.  
  
"Anger separates you," the First Slayer said in her dry, rough voice.  
  
"Yes," Buffy replied. "How do we get over it?"  
  
"Accept it," the First Slayer replied.  
  
"What?" Faith asked because the First Slayer's replies were too vague for her. "What do we accept?"  
  
"The reason," the First Slayer replied.  
  
"What reason?" Faith asked again, approaching the First Slayer slowly.  
  
"Evil's reason," the First Slayer replied harshly.  
  
"The First Evil?" Buffy questioned.  
  
"Yes," the First Slayer replied.  
  
"What is its reason?" Faith asked loudly.  
  
"You," the First Slayer replied, pointing to both girls.  
  
"Both of us?" Buffy asked, as Faith had become silent.  
  
"Yes, both."  
  
"Why are we the reason?"  
  
"You died," the First Slayer replied as she pointed at Buffy.  
  
"Yes and my friends resurrected me," Buffy replied softly.  
  
"Not that time."  
  
Buffy stood confused. She'd almost forgotten about the first time she'd died.  
  
"You died and another was called."  
  
"Yes."  
  
"She died and Faith was called."  
  
"Yes," both Faith and Buffy replied softly.  
  
"You became bad," the Slayer said harshly as her angst touched Faith.  
  
"Yes, I did. I killed a man."  
  
"You turned your back. Your soul was almost lost to Evil."  
  
"So?" Faith said, annoyed that the Slayer was focusing so much attention on her.  
  
"You showed weakness. You almost gave in to Evil. You are a warrior. A warrior for good, but you went bad."  
  
"So?" Faith repeated becoming more frightened with each word the First Slayer spoke.  
  
"Evil only needs one soul to give in to win the fight. You almost gave into his temptation. You showed that even the good can become evil," Buffy said, understanding what the First Slayer was implying.  
  
"So, it's all my fault?" Faith asked angrily.  
  
"No," the Slayer said. "You were not ready to be the Slayer. That is not your fault."  
  
"I was ready," Faith said through gritted teach.  
  
"Ready ones do not give in to evil," the Slayer replied.  
  
"Then why was I chosen?" Faith asked. "It was time."  
  
"So, how do we stop the Evil?" Buffy asked softly.  
  
"Ask for forgiveness and forgive yourself. Trust love and disregard hate."  
  
"We win by loving it?" Faith asked sarcastically.  
  
"No," the Slayer replied. "Each other. You are the keys. You must protect the future Slayers by forgiving the past."  
  
"Is that it?" Faith asked, but it was too late. The First Slayer just disappeared. "Did you understand any of that?"  
  
"Yeah," Buffy replied.  
  
"Can you explain it?"  
  
"We have to get over our problems. If we do that, it will weaken the First's power."  
  
"Oh," Faith replied. "And it's all my fault?"  
  
Buffy looked at her and sighed. 


	2. Destinies Altered

Author's note: First off, I'm not a big fan of Faith. I mean, she's okay, but honestly, I like Buffy better. So, this probably will not be the kind of story that many of you will like.  
  
The Reason - 2  
  
Faith sat on the couch in Buffy's living room fiddling with her boots' shoe laces. She could hear Buffy in the dining room telling the Scooby gang how the First told them that Faith's faults caused the mega rift with the First. She almost snuck out the door, but she saw several of the Potentials sitting on the stairs, some listening intently to Buffy and others staring with inquisitive young eyes looking at Faith like she was either someone to be worshipped or someone to be feared, or both. She hated the stares, but she was glad that someone was acknowledging her existence.  
  
* - * / * \ * - *  
  
Buffy stood there telling her closest friends what had happened. She couldn't help but look over at Faith as she was talking. She knew that it couldn't all be put on Faith's shoulders, but she also knew that Faith had chosen to be bad. She had chosen to screw her friends over. Buffy had been thinking about those days during her Senior Year since she first found out that Faith had betrayed her. She kept thinking about what she might have done wrong. She kept reliving it and trying to make everything turn out happily, but she knew that no matter what she had done, in the end the decision to do wrong had fallen on Faith.  
  
"So, apparently, Faith is somehow the catalyst to this whole First Evil thing," Buffy concluded her long-winded speech.  
  
"What do we do?" Xander asked, concerned that the so-called catalyst was just in the other room.  
  
"I have no idea," Buffy muttered. "I know we have to rebuild this bond, but I don't trust her. A part of me doesn't want to trust her."  
  
"Why not?" Xander asked. "I know that she totally betrayed the gang and all, but hey...so did Angel with his whole "Angelus" thing. You forgave him."  
  
"It's different," Buffy mumbled.  
  
"How?" Willow asked, as she realized that she had never exactly been a big Faith fan.  
  
"I loved him," Buffy replied.  
  
"And how did you feel about Faith?" Xander asked softly.  
  
"Like I had a part of myself died when she went bad," Buffy practically yelled. Buffy knew that Faith had heard, especially since she was coming in the room. "Faith is more than just a slayer to me, okay, guys? She's like a sister. She's like Dawn."   
  
Buffy paused to get her breath. Dawn had looked at her with a shocked gaze.  
  
"Even though we don't admit it, all slayers are connected," Buffy continued. "We are all more than just warriors. We get our strength from the same First Slayer that also gives us a sisterlike bond. And when Faith chose the Mayor over us, she chose to break that bond. She chose to betray us. She betrayed her family, and I don't know how I can just get over it."  
  
"What do you want, a box of chocolate?" Faith asked as she rolled her eyes.  
  
"No, I want all of this to have never happened," Buffy retorted. "I've been living with the guilt from that night when you killed--"  
  
"I remember what happened," Faith cut her off, trying not to acknowledge her past.  
  
"Yeah, well, so do I," Buffy swiftly remarked. "I felt sorry for what happened, and you never did."  
  
"Yes, I did," Faith replied, as tears began to form in the corners of her eyes.  
  
"Then why didn't you act like it?" Willow asked her.  
  
"Because I didn't think it was right for Slayers to cry," Faith remarked.  
  
"Anyone can cry...just ask Xander!" Anya stated in her matter-of-fact tone.  
  
"Thanks, An," Xander said sarcastically.  
  
"That's not the real reason you didn't act like it," Buffy said sternly, "and you know it."  
  
"Oh, really? What was the real reason?" Faith asked sarcastically.  
  
"Because you enjoyed it," Buffy replied, looking Faith straight in the eyes. "You liked the rush. You liked having the power over him when you killed him. You liked being bad because being good wasn't enough fun for you."  
  
"That's not true," Faith said softly.  
  
"Oh, really?"  
  
"Yes," Faith said in an even softer tone.  
  
"I don't believe you."  
  
"Fine, but the longer you act like the stubborn blonde bitch, the longer this apocalypse will go on."  
  
"I don't think so."  
  
"Really?"  
  
"Yeah," Buffy remarked. "I could end it all right now."  
  
"How's that?"  
  
"I could kill you," Buffy replied.  
  
"I dare ya to try," Faith said defensively.  
  
"Ah, but you see, I don't kill people," Buffy replied.  
  
"Because you're all holier than thou?"  
  
"No, because I acknowledge that we were put here to protect people, not kill them."  
  
"Yeah, and our destiny is to die and be replaced, not to be brought back from the dead twice." 


End file.
